The buzz on the buzzer-beaters: Legends recount 'blessings'

Mar. 28, 2013
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Ohio State Buckeyes guard Aaron Craft (4) shoots the winning shot against Iowa State Cyclones forward Georges Niang (31) in the second half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA tournament at University of Dayton Arena. / Frank Victores, USA TODAY Sports

by David Leon Moore, USA TODAY Sports

by David Leon Moore, USA TODAY Sports

LOS ANGELES - When the buzzer-beating heroes of the NCAA tournament's first week, Ohio State's Aaron Craft and Marquette's Vander Blue, dive into the Sweet 16 Thursday night, Bryce Drew will be rooting for them.

Drew has a special fondness for those players who make magic, who create some of the most indelible memories in sports: buzzer-beaters that win games in the NCAA tournament in dramatic, stunning ways, when defeat turns into victory, when there are zeroes on the clock and pandemonium on the court and in the stands.

But Drew has one nit to pick about the so-called buzzer-beaters in this tournament. When Blue's driving layup put Marquette ahead of Davidson, there was one second left. When Craft's three-pointer put Ohio State ahead of Iowa State, there was half a second left.

In both cases, the other team called timeout and had a chance at a desperation basket.

"To me, it's more dramatic when there are zeroes on the clock," says Drew, now Valparaiso's coach. "When a shot ends the game, I always like those best."

Such as 15 years ago, when Drew's three-pointer off a gorgeous in-bounds play lifted Valparaiso to a huge upset over Mississippi in the 1998 tournament?

Or when Tyus Edney's mad-dash, length-of-the-court drive saved the day for UCLA against Missouri in 1995?

Or when Christian Laettner caught Grant Hill's long pass and knocked down an 18-foot jumper to give Duke a one-point overtime win against Kentucky and a spot in the Final Four in 1992?

Zeroes on the clock every time.

"I'm biased," Drew says, "but those are the top three I can remember."

No arguments from Edney and Laettner, whose shots were part of national title runs. Drew's Cinderella shot put Valparaiso into the Sweet 16 for the only time in school history.

There are others who have beaten buzzers in the tournament, too, and Edney thinks it would be a good idea to get them all together and have a round-table discussion of March Madness heroics.

"Why not?" Laettner says. "If Shaq and Barkley (Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley) can sit around and talk about old times, why not get Tyus and Bryce and some of the others and talk about some great tournament shots?"

They certainly have some great tales to tell.

Drew, Edney and Laettner, in separate interviews with USA TODAY Sports, share some of them.

Drew, a sharpshooting guard who was the Crusaders' best player and the son of coach Homer Drew, knew what was coming when his team was down by two with 2.5 seconds left.

The play was called "Pacer," and they had practiced it many times. Sometimes it worked.

Jamie Sykes, an outfield prospect with the Arizona Diamondbacks with a strong arm, inbounded from the baseline all the way to just past halfcourt. There, Bill Jenkins, the Crusaders' most athletic player, jumped and caught the pass and delivered a touch pass to Drew on the right wing.

"Everything happened so quickly," Drew says. "We had run that play a lot in practice, so I guess I was a little on autopilot. I really had a peace about everything."

Valparaiso followed that with an overtime victory against Florida State, becoming just the second 13th seed in history to advance to the Sweet 16. There, they lost to Rhode Island 74-68.

"It's still such a blessing," Drew says. "I'm so grateful that shot went in. It's unforgettable."

Drew, 38, is still trying to get Valparaiso deeper than the Sweet 16. In his second year as head coach, he led the Crusaders into the tournament but they lost their opening game last Thursday to Michigan State.

It was nice to be back in the tournament, he says. But the truth is, even when he's not in the tournament, come March, he feels like he is.

"They keep playing that shot on TV, and that's nice," he says. "I don't really think the shot changed my life that much. But a lot of people think I'm still 23, which is always nice."

'Can't say we were calm'

Boise, Idaho. Second round, 1995. No.1 UCLA vs. No.8 Missouri.

Favored UCLA was down by a point. Normally, with just 4.8 seconds left and inbounding from the baseline, a team looks to pass up to midcourt or so. But Edney, a blur of a 5-10 point guard, had been doing drills in practice and dribbling the length of the court in three seconds.

He and coach Jim Harrick agreed. There was time for Edney to take an inbounds pass and drive the length of the floor, get into the lane and get fouled or shoot.

But before he got to half court, he was hounded by Missouri guard Jason Sutherland and forced to the left. Then, amazingly, at full speed, Edney dribbled behind his back left-handed (his off hand), zipped by Sutherland and headed down the right side of the key.

Edney could see a Missouri big man ‚?? 6-9 Derek Grimm ‚?? sliding into the lane.

Too late to do anything but challenge the big man, Edney rose, lifted his shot just over the appropriately named Grimm and banked it in just before the buzzer sounded.

Edney recalls the mood in the huddle before the last play.

"Everybody knew it was do-or-die time," he says. "I can't say we were calm."

The Bruins rode that emotion all the way to a victory in the title game against defending champion Arkansas. Edney started but played only sparingly in the final because of a wrist injury suffered in the semifinal victory against Oklahoma State.

But he and his buzzer-beater had gotten them there.

"Our whole team realized later that that game and that shot was what we needed to wake us up and get us doing the right things," Edney says.

Edney, 40, played in the NBA and overseas for 14 years before taking a job as UCLA's director of basketball operations.

The 1995 title remains UCLA's only championship since John Wooden's last in 1975.

Sunday, UCLA coach Ben Howland was fired after the team lost in the second round of the tournament to Minnesota.

'5, 4, 3, 2, 1... I loved that'

Philadelphia. East Regional Final, 1992. No.1 Duke vs. No.2 Kentucky.

This is Edney's personal favorite, Laettner catching a three-quarters-of-the-court pass from Hill just above the free throw line, faking, turning and drilling an 18-foot jumper for a 104-103 overtime victory and a trip to the Final Four.

"To me," Edney says, "that shot is just unbelievable."

It's still pretty unbelievable to Laettner, too.

Now 43, retired after a 13-year NBA career, Laettner lives in Jacksonville, Fla., and operates a training camp called the Christian Laettner Basketball Academy.

There are three reasons that shot went in, he says.

Hill made a great pass.

Duke's big man coach at the time, Pete Gaudet, used to work extra with Laettner after practices and would always end their sessions by having Laettner simulate taking a last-second shot near the top of the key. "He'd be going, '5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... .' I loved that," Laettner says.

Laettner wanted to make it really bad. "Sometimes," he says, "you've just got to will it into the hoop."

The last-second shot Laettner remembers most from watching the tournament as a young teenager was Lorenzo Charles' catch-and-dunk of Dereck Whittenburg's air ball that won the national championship for North Carolina State in 1983.

Now Laettner has three kids ‚?? girls 15 and 14 and a boy 7 ‚?? and he enjoyed showing his shot to them.

After Laettner's shot, Duke beat Indiana and Michigan at the Final Four and became the first school to win back-to-back NCAA titles since UCLA in 1972 and '73.

"I didn't do so well in the Final Four," he says. "But that shot in Philadelphia propelled us to the national championship."

'Love Aaron until we're finished with life'

After all the chest bumps and the dog piles and the dancing and the hugs are over, the players who beat the buzzer say the most heartfelt, endearing things.

This is what Marquette's Blue said from the podium at a news conference minutes after his game-winner against Davidson.

"I'm grateful that Coach (Buzz Williams) has unbelievable trust in me to take the last shot and all my teammates wanted me to shoot the ball. ... All I was thinking was if I get to the rim, I've got to finish, because if I don't make that shot, we probably lose. I'm not ready to go home."

Then there was the deliriously happy Ohio State locker room minutes after Craft's last-second shot beat Iowa State. A TV reporter approached Buckeyes guard Lenzelle Smith Jr. and asked: "So we know you love Aaron. But after that shot, do you loooooove Aaron?"

Laettner can tell Craft that the adulation, the gratitude and yes, the love, never grow old.

"That shot," Laettner says, "changed my life to a degree that you can't even fathom. The fact it is replayed every year around this time is an awesome feeling. I love it."

Valparaiso's season is over. Edney is in limbo, caught in a coaching transition. But Drew, Edney and Laettner ‚?? the Holy Trinity of NCAA buzzer-beaters -- still love watching the madness of March and waiting for something seemingly miraculous to happen. They know it can. It happened to them.